New Student
by RandomPerson164
Summary: Jessica Rothman's life has never been very exciting. She has few friends, a "dorky" job, and less-than-prefect reputation with the popular crowd at school. She had always wondered how she could make her life different somehow. But when a few new kids come to her small town of Brownstone, she'll figure out exactly how much a new life costs. (Rated T for later drama and my paranoia!)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This came to me during a sick day from school, when I started thinking about if the characters from Hetalia suddenly came to my school. These will probably never be posted onto (and even if they are, it will be quite some time from now, I'm sure), so…yeah. Written during the aftermath of a migraine, so this may suck. Of course, at this point I don't really care.  
By the way, all places, people, plot, etc. belong to me EXCEPT FOR Hetalia characters. In addition, 99.9% of places, people, plot, and etc. are products of the author's (aka my) imagination. Well, it's more like 100%, but you get the idea.**

**New Student – ****Neue Schüler**

It started out as your average Thursday morning at Brownstone Senior High, located within the quaint little town of Brownstone, Missouri, in the good old US of A. Students were currently packed into classrooms, pretending to listen to teachers as they waited impatiently for the last 6 minutes of their first classes to tick away. One of these students, who went by the name of Jessica Rothman, was stuck in her Modern History class, although unlike her peers, she actually enjoyed listening to teacher, Mr. McDonald, go on about the World Wars and their effects on each individual country. He had been in the middle of explaining the aftermath of the war in Canada when he was interrupted by the incessant ring of the classroom phone. Several sleeping students' heads shot up, believing the ring to be that of the class change bell, then upon discovery of the phone they slumped their shoulders back and stared at the clock on the wall before them. Jessica simply looked up from her notes in curiosity.

"James McDonald," Mr. McDonald said into the phone, a strange silence stretching throughout the classroom. He nodded once, then scanned the faces of his students until his gaze landed on Jessica. "Yes, she's here… She'll be down right away." Putting down the phone's handset, Mr. McDonald stepped back to his diagram of Canada on the whiteboard at the front of the classroom, his eyen never leaving Jessica's. "New student," he stated simply, glancing down at his watch for a brief moment. "You can take your things back to your locker, since we only have four minutes of class left."

Jessica knew the drill when it came to new students. "Yes sir," she responded quietly, snapping her notebook shut and ignoring the jealous groans of students around her. She felt a sharp poke in the back and turned around, seeing the face of her long-time friend, Alfred Jones, staring back at her with a bored curiosity. "Dude, tell me about 'em when you get back!"

Jessica smirked, getting up out of her seat and making her way to the door. "I'll think about it," she called sarcastically over her shoulder before stepping out into the silence of the school.

-x-

It was exactly three minutes later when Jessica finally made it down to the main office, dressed smartly in her official Brownstone Student Ambassador polo shirt and carrying a clipboard containing a single page of instructions. She let out a deep breath as she walked through the threshold into the office. This was all old news to her; being a Student Ambassador for two years straight had given her a sense of belonging when it came to times like this. It was her job – along with a few other specially selected students – to guide new students through the crazy and slightly confusing halls of their school and to help faculty get though assemblies with their faces and limbs intact. She had heard others comment on it, saying that it was "dorky" or "a waste of time," but even if it was, it still had its perks. Getting out of class, for one. But she also found it fascinating to meet the new members of her school – very few people tended to show up in the middle of the year, and even fewer had an interesting story about moving from some distant place to include in their introduction. Nevertheless, it was fun for her to know things like this. Being a dork didn't concern her too much.

Taking a moment to look at her surroundings, Jessica noticed a boy her age sitting in one of the chairs in the corner of the office, carefully scanning a piece of paper in his hands. He had short blonde hair and serious ice-blue eyes that made him seem a little older than he was, and there was a black backpack sitting at his feet. _He must be the new student,_ she thought as the secretary handed her a copy of his schedule. She read the name at the top.

Ludwig Beilschmidt.

_That's a strange last name,_ Jessica commented to herself, thanking the secretary and turning her attention toward the blonde-haired boy in the corner. "Ludwig?"

The boy looked up from the paper in his hands and stood, scooping up his backpack with one hand and slinging it over his shoulder. "Ja, that's me."

Jessica smiled politely, detecting a European accent to his words that sounded suspiciously Germanic. _I wonder…_ "I'm Jessica," she said to him, holding out her hand for him to shake. Once he did so, she gestured for him to follow her, and the two started toward the school's central staircase. "So where are you from, Ludwig?"

"Germany." Ludwig spared a glance at Jessica before focusing his gaze on the stairs beneath his feet. "My family moved here a few days ago, after my father got a job in St. Louis."

Jessica nodded curiously – she had heard the _my-father-got-a-job-in-St.-Louis_ comment quite a lot from new students, since Brownstone was only five miles from the bustling metropolis. "Cool. What's Germany like? I've never been outside the States."

"Well, it is much like here," Ludwig commented, a thoughtful expression on his face, "except people don't go around all the time drinking sodas and yelling at the top of their lungs."

Jessica let out an amused snort. He might as well have been talking about Alfred. "Well, it takes a little getting used to, that's for sure. In fact –"

Her story was cut off by the obnoxious _brring_ of the class change bell and the sudden explosion of sound around them as students streamed out of classrooms, forming a river of bodies that stretched all the way down the length of the hall. Jessica stepped back into an empty corner and pulled Ludwig back with her to keep him from getting trapped in the current.

"Sorry about this," she said apologetically above the din of the students. "Class changes are kinda hectic, but that's another thing to get used to."

Ludwig stared out at the mobs of students, causing some to give him confused glances. "I can tell."

Desperate not to get off on the wrong foot and have an awkward silence arise, Jessica decided to start another conversation. "Do you have any siblings?"

Ludwig looked away from the fellow high schoolers and turned his slightly puzzled gaze toward her. He wasn't exactly expecting anyone to ask him about his family – or himself, for that matter. "_Ja, mein älterer Bruder_ Gilbert." She didn't look the least bit confused by his sudden German, so he continued. "He's a year older than me – someone had taken him just before you came along."

Jessica glanced down at her copy of his schedule and noticed for the first time that the number beside the **GRADE** space read _10_*. _Just like me._ She chuckled to herself. "Who knows, maybe he'll be in one of my brother's classes!"

The quizzical look in Ludwig's eyes increased as the crowd of students around them thinned slightly. "You have an older brother, too?"

"Yeah. He's a junior, but he acts like a little kid all the time. I'm lucky to have kept my sanity up 'til now." Jessica laughed, then silenced herself, hoping that she wasn't sounding rude to the new student. But instead of seeing a bored or annoyed expression when she looked back at Ludwig, she saw him give her a sympathetic smirk, something that she never though she'd ever see.

"Do I know how that feels," he murmured, shaking his head a little.

Jessica couldn't help but smile a little wider as the din around them dimmed into nothing. "Come on, I'll show you to your classes." Her thoughts momentarily wandered to the other new students that she had led through these very halls, how after their tours they were here and gone, lost within the crowds without another mention of their first friend. As the two walked, sharing stories about their pasts and slowly warming up to each other, she thought that maybe she would finally be able to keep a friend from elsewhere.

Just maybe.

***BTW, this uses the American school system, so that's like ages 15 and 16.**

**A/N: As of the moment I write this author's note, it's been a day since I wrote this chapter. By now, I have completed the second chapter, as well as part of the third and a scene that comes up later that I had to write down before it left my brain. I'm sorry, but this has become a plot bunny story. I'll be obsessed with this one for a while, and I'm sorry to all of you out there who wanted to see the Christmas Party fic directly after I finished Yugoslavia, as well as anyone who is waiting for updates for my other stories. I will definitely try to beat back the bunny this time, but I can't make any promises. (By the way, spoiler alert: the next chapter involves a certain pasta-loving Italian. Two, in fact.)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Yeah, another chapter that's way overdue. Just remember that all places, people, plot, etc. belong to me EXCEPT FOR Hetalia characters (and the Super Mario Brothers), and that 99.9% of places, people, plot, and etc. are products of the author's (aka my) imagination.**

**New Student - ****Nuovo Studente**

It was Monday, and no one was happy.

A total of two school days had past since Ludwig was introduced to the student body of Brownstone Senior High, and so far he was fitting in very well. After discovering that they had almost the exact same schedule (What are the odds?), Jessica had guided him through the insane asylum that was Brownstone SH and helped him get caught up with the assignments in each class. Of course, Alfred had given him a thorough questioning, as was expected (Dude, where're you from? No way, you're German? That's awesome! I've never met a German before! What's it like? What do your parents do? How much English do you know? Wait, what does _den Mund halten_ mean? **[1]**). But all in all, Ludwig didn't seem phased at all by the sudden transition, always speaking with a certain strict politeness whenever a question was thrown his way, and somehow managing to keep everything in order. It was almost as if he had been through this before… _Or maybe he's just OCD._

It was currently 9:54 AM on this aforementioned Monday, and second period classes were underway, littering the halls with silence and the occasional loud outburst from any given random classroom. At the moment, that random classroom was home to the 10th grade English Honors class, who at the moment should have been working on speeches for an upcoming writing assessment. But with the teacher gone, every student had abandoned their project and have started chatting loudly with each other, the dominating subject about how terrible Mondays were. Two students at the front, rather than discussing the (extremely) long list of the bad parts of Mondays, were quietly speaking about recent events within the school so that a certain blonde-haired German would be able to understand what was happening.

"…and homecoming's coming up in a few weeks," Jessica continued, glancing up from her half-finished speech to the person sitting to her right. "That's always…something."

Ludwig looked back at her with a puzzled expression. "Jessica, what is 'homecoming?'" The question earned him a few shocked glances and one overdramatic gasp from across the room, but he ignored them.

"Oh, homecoming?" Jessica gave him a dismissive wave of her hand. "It's a time when we welcome back some former members of the school. There's a huge celebration about it that stretches out for a week, and there's a dance and a football game – American football," she corrected herself, so that her German friend would not get any more confused. "…It's crazy. Everyone gets all hyped up about it, but it's never been that exciting for me." Another ignored gasp. By now, nearly half of the class had gone silent to listen to her, but she didn't give notice to it.

Considering her words carefully, Ludwig nodded, averting his eyes for a moment and staring down at the blank paper on the desk before him. He opened his mouth to say something…

…And was interrupted by the classroom phone.

Almost instantly, a girl toward the back of the room shot up and snatched the phone's handset away, clamping it to her ear. "Mrs. Turner's room, student speaking." Only after she heard the girl's voice did Jessica recognize her: it was Elizabeth Héderváry, her long-time Hungarian-American best friend. Elizabeth had been the one girl that Jessica could confide her secrets to, and in return Elizabeth told her all about her father's home country and his family, quickly becoming Jessica's only link to the world outside the States. Before Ludwig, of course.

As of now, Elizabeth was looking back at her with an expression that said, _here_ _we go again_. "Yes sir," she said into the phone, "she's here… Yes sir, I'll tell her." She put the phone down and spared one last glance at her best friend. "They need you in the office, Jess."

Before Jessica could say anything in response, a loud, obnoxious voice called out from the center of the room. "Whaddya think she did this time?" The voice belonged to one of the jocks from the football team whose name Jessica had never bothered to learn.

"_Halt die Klappe und lass sie in Ruhe, du Idiot_!" The loud German words were enough to silence the class full of snickering delinquents and leave them staring toward the ticked off German on the front row. No one knew what he had said, but whatever it was, he meant business. **[2]**

Jessica skirted the wall and slipped out the door, but not before throwing Ludwig a silent smile of thanks.

-x-

As she once again fiddled with the collar of her white Brownstone Student Ambassador shirt, Jessica couldn't help but wonder why there was already another new student, and why she was being sent out again after such a short time. Usually, newbies came several weeks apart and were rarely from anywhere outside the United States, so this time was interesting.

_It'll be nothing,_ she told herself. _This time, the new student will be just another American, and they'll be all quiet and shy like they always are…_

Hearing the voices coming from the office made her doubt her own words.

"…your fault that we're-a even here, Feli! Now-a look at what you've-a done!"

"I'm-a sorry, Lovi! I-a didn't mean to –"

"Shut up! _Non hai mai, mai ascoltare qualsiasi cosa che ho da dire! Perché non solo ascoltare me per un cambiamento e forse non sarà vite tutto_!" **[3]**

In the time that one of the voices had said that, Jessica had been joined by a second Ambassador, and they had each received a copy of a schedule before watching the two new students fight it out like a pair of professional wrestlers. Yes, _two_ of them, very close in age – twins maybe. Even stranger, the tanner one seemed to be speaking Italian, and the amber-eyed one was trembling terribly and kept saying "I'm-a sorry" in a thick Italian accent. Jessica and the other Ambassador shared a confused glance just before the tanner one stopped yelling at the amber-eyed one. If anything, the scene looked like there was a death match going on between the Super Mario Brothers.

"It's about time," the tanner one said, turning his bored green expression on the two polo-wearing students before him. "I've been waiting forever for someone to show me around this _scuola stupido_."

Jessica didn't hear his last words, instead taking a step towards the angered Italian's cowering brother. She glanced down at the name on her schedule copy and reading off the name at the top. "Are you… Feliciano Vargas?"

The amber-eyed boy nodded slightly and spared a glance at his brother. He was currently speaking loudly and boredly to the other Ambassador, saying something about him being unable to wait "getting away from _him_" and gesturing to his brother. The Ambassador shot Jessica a _help me_ glare before disappearing through the office doors.

The moment his brother left, Feliciano let out a breath and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "Lovi scares-a me sometimes…" His voice was quiet and shaky for a moment as he closed his eyes, but when he opened them, he seemed as chipper and happy as a person could get. "Sorry about-a that, _bella_. Lovi gets-a angry really easy…"

"It's alright," Jessica returned, pretending she didn't just hear him call her beautiful for fear that she'd start blushing. "It happens with brothers."

Feliciano's eyes lit up in a way that made Jessica laugh a little on the inside. "You-a have a brother too?"

Jessica gestured for him to follow her, and they started to walk away from the scene of what had been a very heated Italian argument. "Yeah. My brother's a year older than me, but he's still annoying. …Oh, I didn't introduce myself," she added sheepishly. "I'm Jessica."

"Oh, that's a pretty name," Feliciano commented, not noticing the dusting of pink that appeared on Jessica's cheeks. "I'm-a Feliciano, but everyone just-a calls me Feli for short."

"Sorry if I'm wrong," Jessica started, glancing down at her clipboard to avoid a potential angry outburst, "but are you from Italy?"

"Sì! Italy's a real nice-a place…" Feli trailed off, looking around at the simple inner walls and doorways of the school, "…But this is a really nice-a place too!"

Jessica chuckled softly. "You should see it during class change. It's a mad house." She glanced back at the Italian, who was still gazing in awe at everything around him. "So Feli, what brings you and your brother here to Brownstone?"

"Oh, our parents are-a liaison officers for an Italian company," Feli explained, peeking through the window of a classroom door as they passed, "and they work-a in St. Louis."

"Cool!" Jessica glanced down at the copy of his schedule. _He has my history class_, she noted, leading him in the direction of his locker. _Well, I might as well learn a little bit more about him._ "Do you like history?"

Feli looked back at her quizzically before nodding wildly. "History is-a so cool~. It's cool to see what-a people did in the past! Even though they were-a so different, they're really just-a like us!"

Jessica laughed amusedly as their history-based conversation traveled as far as the halls they walked. _This is going to be a fun year._

**A/N:**

**[1] - **_**den Mund halten**_** means "shut up" in German. (Apparently, Ludwig isn't much of a fan of Alfred.)**

**[2] - Ludwig's outburst is translated as, "Shut up and leave her alone, you idiot!" (…He doesn't like jocks either.)**

**[3] - This is Italian for, "You never, ever listen to anything I have to say! Why don't you just listen to me for a change and maybe you won't screw everything up!" …At least, that's what Google Translate told me.**

**Another A/N: I've realized something earlier this week. Yeah, I write to let go of some of my stress, and I do that by writing fanfics for you guys. That's fine and all, but I think that it's actually one of the things giving me stress. So, until further notice – not too long, I promise – I'll be on hiatus from writing. I'll still respond to all PMs and reviews (and I may put up a few one-shots…eventually), I just need to catch my body up to my brain, if that makes any sense. Thanks for putting up with the terrible me. You guys are the ones that keep me writing. Hasta la pasta~!**


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